True Happiness
by Fire The Canon
Summary: Hermione had experienced happiness before, but never like this. Never in this way.


_**Written for hermionerose1998 as my June (yep it's late) GGE gift!**_

_**Written for the Journey Through Hogwarts Challenge (Florean Fortescue's - write a fluffy romance)**_

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**True Happiness**

Happiness was something she had experienced frequently as a child. Gifts from her parents, letters from her friends, and time spent in the Gryffindor common room were just some of the many happy memories she possessed from her childhood. She thought of those moments frequently, read letters of Ron's adventures with his family, and revisited the gifts she had received over the years whenever she felt down. They always managed to bring a smile to her face.

As an adult, though, there were other things that brought her happiness. It had been years since she had last looked at a childhood letter or thought about her own time at Hogwarts. Now, the things that brought her happiness were the finer things in life; the things not everyone was lucky enough to experience.

She always hated it when Ron was called away for work. He had travelled the world as an Auror, visiting cities she could only dream about seeing. She was constantly afraid for him and was hardly ever happy to see him pack up his bags and leave for weeks at a time. She had not understood how hard it was for him until she had had to do it herself. All she had thought about in her week out of the country was what her family were doing. She wondered how Ron was doing with the kids… and then she thought about the kids. Rose would probably be delighted to have her mother away, but Hugo was rather attached. He enjoyed her company the most. Rose would cause havoc on her father, while Hugo would be subdued and probably uncharacteristically quiet. She had sent a letter home to find out, but as usual, Ron's response had been short and included little detail.

_Kids are fine, I'm fine, we're all doing just fine._

_Miss you._

_Love, Ron_

Now, though, her time to come home was finally here. She had busied herself in her work over the past week, trying to forget, but it was finally time. Her bags were packed and she stood in the busy Portkey waiting area, waiting for the announcement that the Portkey to Huddersfield was ready to leave. Three PM exactly, she had been told, and it was nearing that time now.

With excitement, she glanced up to the large clock on the wall, her heart beating faster than usual. She couldn't wait to see all of them again. She had missed them all so much. She missed having someone beside her in her bed, she missed the warm hugs her daughter gave her, and the bright smiles from her son. She missed the laughter and the noise having a family brought. She missed it all. Solitude wasn't something she enjoyed anymore; not since she had learnt what true happiness was.

The clock continued to tick away slowly, the second hand almost stopping altogether before – with two minutes to go – there was an announcement. It was her Portkey! She was going home!

Picking up her bags, Hermione hurried through the crowd, pushing past people to make sure she didn't miss it. The Portkey itself was nothing spectacular to behold. It was a broken tooth-comb, but it would get her to where she needed to be and that was all that mattered.

Two other people were waiting with her and as the clock slowly moved to three o'clock she felt her heartbeat rapidly increasing even more. Not long now… not long now at all.

Three…two… one… She was lifted up and carried away. Portkey was never fun to travel by, but it was fast and it got people places.

She wasn't up in the air for too long before she let go and then –

"Mummy!" Two pairs of arms flung around her waist and she was engulfed in a hug that she had terribly missed in the last week.

"Welcome home." Brushing her children's hair out of their faces, Hermione turned to Ron who was standing just behind Rose and Hugo. He had a smile on his face and it looked as if he wanted to kiss her hello, but didn't want to interrupt their children's excitement at seeing their mother again.

"Thank you." She kissed Rose and Hugo hello each in turn and then flung her arms around Ron's neck. "How do you do it?" she asked quietly so only he would hear her. What _it_ was, Ron didn't need to ask.

"It's what we have to do," he said. "It's our job."

Pulling back and smiling, glad to be home, Hermione shook her head. "It's too hard," she confessed. "I admire you for it, I really do." For Rose had grown somewhat in her week away, and even Hugo looked different. Was this what it was like for Ron every time he left? Did he always come back noticing that his children had grown or changed in some way? She remembered he had been devastated many years ago when he had come home after two weeks on a mission to find that Rose had started walking. He had hated missing it.

"Glad to have you back, though," Ron said after a moment. He nodded towards their children. "I admire _you_ for dealing with them on your own." He grinned at her and Hermione smiled, taking his hand.

"Well," she said as they began to walk back in the direction of their home, "Neither of us will have to do it for a while."

For no one had to go away for two more months at the least. And thank Merlin for that!

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_**I hope you all liked :) Your thoughts would be much appreciated! I am still getting back into the swing of writing again!**_


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